


black solo cup, half full

by smallerthanzero



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Gen, Post-Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Fix-It, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Spoilers, ben solo smiles a lot in this fic i couldn't help myself, i know the title is dumb this is just the kind of fic that deserves it, just wanted some gen fix-it fic so here we go
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-21
Updated: 2019-12-21
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:08:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21891916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smallerthanzero/pseuds/smallerthanzero
Summary: “Absolutelyfuckingnot,” Rey snarls, and then, as an afterthought, “Be with me.” She holds a hand, slightly trembling, to Ben’s chest.
Relationships: Rey & Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 15
Kudos: 103





	black solo cup, half full

Rey looks down at the body of Ben Solo, a man who lived a better and happier life in moments of a shared smile than Kylo Ren ever could, who climbed down into hell to help her and back up to do it once more, whose limp legs are still tangled under hers. She takes a deep breath.

Rey has never been a good storyteller. She did not pull Kylo Ren to the light with grand words even as he pulled her to the dark. When Poe and Finn tell stories of their most recent adventures, she only listens and lets Chewie or Leia speak for her.

After all, for many years she had no one to tell stories to.

But Rey is a scavenger, a woman who knows how to live in the desert. She is intimately familiar with her limits, knows that when she’s down to the last swallow of water in her canteen it’s time to give up and head home even if it means going hungry that evening.

And she knows when she has more to give.

“Absolutely _fucking_ not,” Rey snarls, and then, as an afterthought, “Be with me.” She holds a hand, slightly trembling, to Ben’s chest.

A few voices murmur in the force, displeased, but she waits only for Luke’s warm smile and Leia’s murmured “please” before driving the Force into him with a spark of lightning for good measure.

“Oh, good,” one last voice says. Maybe one that’s spoken to her before, she’s not sure. “I didn’t mean to start a _trend_.”

* * *

They are most of the way to Luke’s X-wing before Rey remembers the distinct lack of a passenger seat.

“I might have to sit in your lap,” she tells Ben. He sputters a little as she casts around. “Or - wait, here-” She holds an arm out, commanding, and a TIE fighter starts sliding towards them. The pilot must have been careful with this one, trying for a controlled descent even with their electronics cut from Palpatine’s lightning. They didn’t survive, but the craft is in good enough condition to take off. 

Ben looks at her, wondering. “How did you find it?”

“Don’t ask a scavenger her secrets,” Rey tells him, mock serious. Even as the battle finishes overhead, she feels lighter than she ever has.

“A scavenger, a Sith princess,” he says, returning her grimace at that item, “and the whole of the Jedi. Amazing.” He pauses. “And I am all of those, but inverted.”

“Too bad,” she says. “Only a Jedi can fly _that_ ” - she gestures to the X-wing - “and I’m not letting you leave here in a First Order ship. You’ll be shot right down.”

It’s completely untrue - Poe would throw a fit if she didn’t let him sit in Luke Skywalker’s very famous craft, mildewed and water-stained as it it - but Ben falters. She almost laughs at his wide-eyed look; he knows she won’t leave him here, but he clearly doesn’t want to ask. 

“Fortunately for you,” she relents, using Poe’s best ‘welcome to the rebellion!’ voice, “the Jedi are looking for some new recruits. Have anyone in mind?”

Ben smiles.

* * *

They land back at the Rebellion base, and she and Finn and Poe are hugging, Finn crying silently between the two of them, Poe laughing at him in a suspiciously choked-up tone. 

Somehow, it’s the best hug they’ve ever shared.

She tells them about Ben, briefly, leading them to where’s he’s landed in the forest - it won’t do to have the entire Resistance try to kill him on sight. Finn and Poe are largely silent, bug-eyed in disbelief.

“I’m the only Force-sensitive person I know, now,” she says, tearing up a little herself as she thinks of Luke and Leia, “and I can’t rebuild the galaxy or the order on my own. He’ll be helpful.”

“Rey, I have to tell you,” Finn interjects. “I don’t care if we’re not alone, I have to tell you.”

“Okay,” she says, grinning. Poe looks worried. “We don’t have to be alone. Tell us.” 

“I can feel it too,” Finn says. His voice drops, quiet, but just as sure. “The Force. Definitely not as strong as you can, but I can feel things. Know things.” 

She beams wide enough to split her face, darting forward to hug him again. “You can? Finn, that’s wonderful!”

Poe is gaping. “That’s the secret? That’s what you couldn’t say in front of me?”

Finn looks a little sheepish. “I didn’t want you to feel left out.”

“Buddy, that is the _last_ thing I feel right now,” Poe laughs, clapping him on the shoulder. “A Force-sensitive general, just like old times! Things are really looking up.” He turns to Rey. “And you don’t need Ben at all, then!” 

“A master and one whole padawan, rebuilding the peace,” Ben deadpans from behind them. Poe and Finn whirl, taking Rey with them. “You didn’t need me to come at all - I could be living my best life as a hermit on Exegal as we speak.”

Rey makes a face at him - Ben Solo is surprisingly difficult at times. She wonders if shouting at him will work better than it does with Poe.

Poe looks like he’s just been struck. “He got the Solo wisecracking gene,” she hears him mutter to himself.

Oh. Maybe not _surprisingly_ difficult, then. 

Finn frowns at the black-clad man. “You feel different,” he tells Ben.

“I am different,” Ben says solemnly, then sinks to his knees, head down. “But I am still willing to pay for my crimes against the Resistance in any way they see fit.” 

Poe and Finn share a solemn look. Rey opens her mouth, then closes it. She trusts them. With her life, with this new peace. They’ll do what’s right.

The jungle hums around them, alive, the green of new beginnings. Poe and Finn are still looking at each other.

“Co-general?”

“Co-general.” Finn steps forward, holds out a hand. “Welcome to the Res - ah, well. We’ll call it the Resistance for now.”

He’s copying Poe’s voice, the way Rey does, but it sounds better on him. 

Ben’s head snaps up. “Really? Just like that?”

“Even if Kylo Ren fought us to the last, it seems like Ben Solo is willing to stand up for what’s right,” Poe says. “And besides, we don’t have enough people to turn away anyone willing to help.”

“But you do,” Ben rebuts, brow furrowing. “All those ships… those people…”

“We have them,” Poe concedes, “but peace has failed before. We won’t have enough people until every planet, every person in this galaxy is willing to help us uphold it.”

“So stand up already,” Finn complains, shaking his hand a little. “I’m getting tired here.” 

Ben laughs a little and takes Finn’s hand. He’s big, so Rey doesn’t feel too bad about taking his other hand and helping to drag him upright. “I’ll never be able to undo what I’ve done completely,” he says, “I’m not strong enough. But I’ll do whatever I can.”

“None of us are enough,” Poe tells him. “But together, we might just make it.” He looks awkward at being the only one not touching Ben, and reaches out to clap him on the shoulder. Ben looks down at the hand, amazed, and smiles. Rey likes it when he smiles.

“Good,” she says decisively. “I’ve put a lot of my life Force in him, it would be a shame to waste it.” 

“You did _what_?” Poe yelps. Finn takes in how pale and shaky the two of them are for the first time and looks a little unsteady himself. “Oh shit, we’ll get you two to a medic right now-”

“It’s alright, it’ll replenish,” she says, serene in the face of his and Finn’s panic. “Come on, let me show you Luke’s X-wing.”

And for once, she’s said something that shuts the flyboy right up.

* * *

So it ends like this - Kylo Ren dies on Kef Bir, and a dark-haired wall of a man named Ben Solo joins the Resistance (peacetime designation pending).

He and Rey travel the galaxy, cleaning up First Order debris, replanting, rebuilding. Their Force bond heals in time, and now that Rey isn’t fighting it they can pass tools and food in a way that most locals consider magic. They meditate together, Ben’s face lighting up every time he hears a snippet of a voice through the Force.

They visit Finn and Poe often, or their friends will come with them. Poe and Finn are slowly teaching Ben real strategy, largely by handing him embarrassing defeats in every holo-game they play. In return, Rey attempts to train them in Jedi ways gleaned from text and her own short apprenticeships, Poe watching fondly on the sidelines as they learn.

Rey still isn’t much of a storyteller, but she can tell a happy ending when she sees one.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Comments are much appreciated :)


End file.
